I’ll be giving my first academic presentation ever at Ithaca College’s 2011 Rod Serling Conference in September. The conference is “an interdisciplinary academic conference dedicated to the works of Rod Serling.”
Where Else Would You See a Story Like This: H.P. Lovecraft Adapted for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery
Writer H.P. Lovecraft describes “Weird Fiction” as a literary form which focuses on evoking atmospheric and psychological dread, as opposed to the simple description of physical horror. Adapting this literature for film and television typically relies on the depiction of physical horror as a concession to visual media. Two successful attempts to adapt weird fiction with its sense of dread intact are found in the anthology series Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, where such weird tales as Lovecraft’s own “Cool Air” (adapted by Rod Serling) and “Pickman’s Model” (adapted by Alvin Sapinsley) found a natural home. An exploration of Serling’s and Sapinsley’s individual approaches to adapting Lovecraft’s work for Night Gallery will show how, despite allowances that were made for the television medium (and in some instances, because of them), they succeeded to a greater extent than other film and television adaptations of the same material.
Now, I just have to finish writing the paper. I already know that I’m starting the presentation with this video clip…
Maybe I overdid it with the cloak and dagger, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything publicly until I got the proposal submitted and received a response. I did tell a few select individuals what I was up to (Though I accidentally spilled the beans a bit when I was interviewed on Functional Nerds a couple of months ago). But the folks I told were the ones I trusted to talk me out of this if they felt they had to. I’m glad they didn’t!
